Sten
The Sten (or Sten gun) was a family of British 9 mm submachine guns used extensively by British and Commonwealth forces throughout World War II and the Korean War. They were notable for having a simple design and very low production cost. STEN is an acronym, cited as derived from the names of the weapon's chief designers, Major Reginald Shepherd and Harold Turpin, and EN for Enfield. Over 4 million Stens in various versions were made in the 1940s. General Information The official designation "Carbine, Machine, Sten" should not be confused with the common understanding of carbine; the Sten was a typical, almost stereotypical submachine gun while the term carbine is used to refer to short, light rifles. The "Carbine, Machine" element of the designation was due to the British term for a submachine gun being a "Machine Carbine" in the earlier parts of the Second World War. The Sten gun was chambered for the 9x19mm Parabellum pistol cartridge. The Sten was small and could be stripped down into a set of easily concealed components and was therefore particularly suited to partisan operations on the continent or in Special Operations Executive operations in German-occupied France. Guerrilla fighters in Europe became adept at repairing, modifying and eventually scratch-building clones of the Sten (over 2,000 Stens and about 500 of similar Błyskawica SMGs were manufactured in occupied Poland). The Sten was a simple, open bolt, blowback operated, selective-fire firearm. Single shots and full automatic fire were selected by a cross-bolt type push-button located in front and above the trigger. The tubular receiver and the barrel sleeve were made from rolled steel. It was fed from a box magazine attached to the housing on the left side of the gun. Various stocks were used with different models, all steel skeleton and tubular stocks to wooden stocks and pistol grips. The sights were fixed, consisting of a rear peep and front blade, zeroed to a nominal 100 yards. Stoppages could occur due to the magazine, a direct copy of the one used in the German Erma MP38/MP40. The magazine had two columns of tapered 9 mm cartridges arranged side-by-side in a zig-zag manner. To allow the magazine box to be straight, the front of the magazine was tapered to complement the taper of the cartridges. While other staggered magazines fed from both the left and right positions, the Sten magazine required the cartridges to gradually merge at the top of the magazine to form a single column. Any dirt or foreign matter in this taper area could cause feed malfunctions. Additionally, the walls of the magazine lip had to endure the full stresses of the rounds being pushed in by the spring. This could result in deformation of the magazine lips, resulting in misfeeds. To facilitate easier loading to the great resistance when attempting to push the cartridges down to insert the next one, a magazine filler tool was developed and formed part of the weapon's kit. Modern 9 mm magazines, such as those used by the Sterling SMG, are curved and feed both sides to avoid this problem. A well-maintained Sten gun is a devastating close-range weapon. If a Sten does jam with the bolt forward, standard practice to clear it is as follows: tilt the Sten to the right to allow gravity to pull jammed rounds out through the cartridge ejection port, whilst recocking the weapon. Then the weapon is fired again as normal. An easy action to memorise even under stress. The slot on the side of the body where the cocking knob ran was a target of criticism, as the long opening could allow foreign objects to enter. On the other hand, a beneficial side-effect of the Sten's minimalist design was that it would fire without any lubrication. This was useful in desert environments where oil attracts and retains dust. The MK II and MK III Stens could accidentally discharge if dropped whilst the gun was cocked. This was particularly true of early Stens using bronze bolts, where the sear projection underneath the bolt could wear down more easily than ones made of case-hardened steel. The Sten underwent various design improvements over the course of the war. For example, the Mark 4 cocking handle and corresponding hole drilled in the receiver were created in order to prevent an accidental discharge issue. However, most changes to the production process were more subtle, designed to give greater ease of manufacture and increased reliability. Sten guns of late 1942 and beyond were highly effective weapons. Such was the ease of manufacture that the Germans also produced a version of the Sten, the MP 3008, late in the war. Service in WWII The Sten, especially the Mark II, tended to attract affection and loathing in equal measure. Its peculiar appearance when compared to other firearms of the era, combined with reportedly questionable reliability and durability made it unpopular with many front-line troops. It gained nicknames such as "Plumber's Nightmare", "Plumber's Abortion", "Stench Gun" or "Woolworth's Gun". The Sten's attractions were ease of manufacture and availability in the massive numbers required during a major conflict. There are numerous accounts of the Sten's unreliability, some of them true, some exaggerated and some which are apocryphal. France manufactured Sten copies postwar into the early 1950s, which they would have avoided if Sten reliability and durability were truly as abysmal as some claims assert. Stens were air-dropped in quantity to resistance fighters and partisans throughout occupied Europe. Due to their slim profile and ease of disassembly, they were good for concealment and guerrilla warfare. Staged photograph: A partisan armed with Sten Mk II smg, France, 1944.A famous ambush involving a Sten - the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich - was almost thwarted when it jammed. This problem also occurred with the German MP40 magazine, copied by the Sten gun designers. Canadian infantry battalions in North-West Europe held spare Sten guns for special missions and the Canadian Army reported a surplus of the weapons in 1944. The Sten was not used in Italy due to constraints on the shipping of ammunition; .45 ACP was already being used in theatre by the US Army and a requirement for 9 mm would have been in competition with limited shipping space. Category: Allied Weapons